Illustrator Richard Haines Shows Us His Williamsburg Book Joint

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New York City has more stores than anyone could physically tackle, but somehow we always keep returning to the usual suspects. To break out of the rut, we've asked some of the city's shopping and fashion gurus to provide their hidden retail gems—those unique stores around our fantastic island (and beyond) that we might not all know about. Cue The Beatles: We're about to get a little help from our friends.

Today's subject is illustrator Richard Haines, the guy behind the ever-popular blog What I Saw Today. Haines documents the outfits of those he sees on the streets of New York City, roughly sketching their complete looks and posting them online. He also collaborates with The New York Times, most recently drawing Bruce Pask's top picks from the European menswear collections. He let us in on his ideal day in New York, ending up at Williamsburg's High Valley Books, an under-the-radar spot that we are looking forward to checking out.

"I love fashion and style. Observing it and recording it is my passion. But when it comes to shopping and spending my coins, I like keeping my look to a basic uniform and then moving on to a great book store or art supply store. One of my favorite places is High Valley Books in Williamsburg. Bill Hall has an amazing collection of vintage books and magazines, and aside from that, it's just a chill place to go and spend time looking and sharing info. So a perfect afternoon for me would be checking out some furniture stores on Wythe Avenue, stopping by the APC outlet, grabbing a bite at Marlow and Sons, then checking out what's new at Bill's (by appointment only)."—Yale Breslin
· High Valley Books [Official Site]
· What I Saw Today [Official Site]